Wednesday, March 12, 2008

New Truck Series Coming To SPEED

The racing world continues to clash with an element of SPEED Channel's own programming group.

Rather than invest in promoting and exposing "real racing" and the stories behind the on-track action, the network continues to focus on non-racing "lifestyle" programming.

The lastest project is about people who drive tow trucks. Below is the media release from TV Week. Here is the direct link.

Fueled on the weekends by NASCAR programming, Speed is changing gears on weeknights.Rather than featuring racing, the cable network’s newest show focuses on the sometimes risky life at a family-owned tow truck company in Chicago.

The network’s strategy is to air what it calls automotive lifestyle programming in prime time. The Fox-owned cable network is betting “Wrecked” will do for it what “Deadliest Catch” does for Discovery.

Speed plans to air 10 one-hour episodes of “Wrecked,” shot in high definition, beginning in July.When Fox acquired control of Speed in 2002, the network took on part of the company’s NASCAR package and showed racing seven nights a week, said Robert Ecker, VP of programming for Speed.

The NASCAR connection helped the network add distribution; it’s now available in more than 78 million homes. But Speed’s racing programming on weeknights stalled.

“It didn’t work. It didn’t resonate,” Mr. Ecker said.

Viewership for Speed was down slightly last year in prime time and over the entire programming day. In prime time, the network was mostly flat in key demographics. That led Speed executives to start to develop automotive lifestyle programming.

“We have discovered over the course of time that while there are race fans, there are also people that have a love affair with the automobiles but are not necessarily interested in racing,” he said.

Shows about automotive culture are all over the dial, from “Pimp My Ride” on MTV to “Monster Garage” on Discovery. In addition to the allure of motoring content for American viewers, automotive is television’s largest advertising category. So shows about cars stand a good chance of finding sponsors.

Most of Speed’s original programming still has an element of racing, even if it doesn’t deal directly with NASCAR or other motor events.

In “Pinks,” competitors race each other for registration slips, while on the network’s nightly game show “Pass Time,” contestants try to guess how fast a car will do the quarter-mile.

But the network is trying to show a broader range of programming.

Mr. Ecker said “Drag Race High,” which challenges shop classes at rival Tennessee high schools to build a dragster, is as much about racing as “Friday Night Lights” is about football. And “Living the Low Life,” hosted by model Vida Guerra, is a show about low-rider auto culture. Another show, “Super Cars Exposed,” takes expensive cars and exposes them to the elements to see what they will do.

“Wrecked,” however, is the network’s most ambitious and expensive programming effort to date, Mr. Ecker said.

Rising programming costs have kept Speed’s cash flow flat at about $60 million since 2004, which is very low for a network of its size, said Derek Baine, senior analyst at SNL Kagan Research. Kagan estimates Speed’s gross ad revenues will rise to $106 million in 2008 from $95 million last year.

Mr. Ecker said Speed is betting “Wrecked” has varied appealing aspects that should attract viewers and generate return on investment.

For one thing, people have an interest in big rigs, and Chicago O’Hare Towing & Recovery uses huge, expensive pieces of machinery. And like the high-rated “Deadliest Catch,” which follows crab fisherman in the Bering Sea, it’s a show about an occupation that’s more dangerous than most people realize, particularly during a Chicago winter.

“I’m told the incidence of mortality is higher than [for] policemen and firemen,” Mr. Ecker said. The network said about 100 tow-truck drivers lose their lives on the job every year.

The show plays up the human element, showing drivers waiting in a firehouse-like environment for emergency calls. The family that owns the towing company, headed by Bill Gratzianna and his wife, adds another personal dimension. Their parents are in the business and Bill’s brother is married to Bill’s wife’s sister. The relatives own a competing firm, so sparks should fly.

Speed said it generally seeks between $6,000 and $10,000 for a 30-second spot in high-profile prime-time shows.

Beyond the interest automotive advertisers may have in the content, other sponsors may take note, Mr. Ecker said.

Since the drivers may be on call 24 hours a day during stormy weather, beer and liquor probably won’t be a part of the show. But the crew drinks a lot of coffee and eats a lot of doughnuts, Mr. Ecker said.

NASCAR fans continue to fondly recall the Monday night line-up of quality programming on SPEED that used to be required viewing. ESPN2 has invested in a daily NASCAR news series with success.

Other than one night of Wind Tunnel, there is absolutely no interactive programming where fans can voice their views or interact with NASCAR guests on SPEED.

None of the quality programming created by the NASCAR Media Group from the track for SPEED over the weekend is repeated during the week in primetime. NASCAR Performance, Tradin' Paint, Victory Lane and clips of other programs are not seen once the weekend is over. This quality content is lost each and every week of the season.

NASCAR programming is soaring on Sirius Satellite radio. NASCAR content is popular in both text and video forms at sites all over the Internet, just like this one.

Rather then open the doors to new and innovative programming ideas like The Humpy Show, SPEED continues to believe that they are going to attract the MTV and Discovery Channel crowd by investing in "clones" of existing programming series. Did you happen to see the original episode of "Living the Low Life?"

The bi-polar nature of SPEED serves to alienate both crowds. The racing folks love the weekends, and then are cast aside during the week other than the one hour of This Week in NASCAR.

The lifestyle crowd that enjoys entertainment programming comes along for the PINKS-style ride on weeknights, but SPEED then becomes "NASCAR TV" on Friday and through the weekend. Off they go to MTV, VH-1 and Spike TV. Flavor of Love anyone?

It should be interesting to tune-into a Wrecked, Living the Low Life, Super Bikes and PINKS primetime line-up as the best SPEED has to offer after more than ten years on-the-air as America's motorsports TV network.

The one fundamental problem facing SPEED is that racing fans have somewhere to go when SPEED is deep in the middle of their "lifestyle" commitment. The Internet offers a wide array of entertainment and information options about real racing, including several series denied TV access who now stream their own live programming.

Other than considering spinning the lifestyle programming off onto its own digital channel, SPEED needs to take a long, hard look at who is turning off the TV every time the "lifestyle" programming is coming on.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Please address the topic and issues contained in the column above. The rules for posting are on the right side of the main page. To add your opinion, just click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the instructions. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by.

43 comments:

Oh, good heavens. They wreck IWC/INC, and add a show about tow truck drivers?

I was just thinking the other day how much viewers would love to have an in-depth look at what goes on at a race shop - nothing fluffy or sanitized - or at the real lives of drivers all the way from ARCA to the local short tracks. What does it take to stick it out year after year when your chances of making the Big Show dwindle by the month? I could come up with ten or twelve ideas for shows that deal with racing and don't try to emulate something else that's been done, and probably a lot better, already.

As I've said before, use The Humpy Show. That was fun and fascinating. Wait, I forgot - it caters to race fans, those folks Speed doesn't want during the week between races.

Oh boy! ANOTHER fake "reality" show. Let me guess - a real "intense" character with no inter-personal skills, a wacky free-spirit, one character who tries to keep everything together, one black sheep and of course one sexpot.

Got to hand it to the upper management at Speed. If you want to kill stuff you don't just come right out and try to kill it. You start a process of benign neglect and then you can point to the results and say "Look this stuff isn't working, we tried but hey the ratings speak".

I love NASCAR but I maintain a great deal of respect for the open wheelers (foreign and domestic) and ALMS. why are there no shows aimed at them? Is the fan base for those leagues oriented more to print media rather than television? I think not. There must be room for such programming. C'mon SPEED, figure it out.

Fake reality show indeed. I must admit I did not read the ENTIRE article as the italics was hard on my old eyes but I get the point.

Last year not much racing on speed. Unique whips, Nopi tv, Pinks.

Folks on F1 or Indy racing boards would LOVE to see talk shows on THEIR SPORTS.

My GOD SPEED NEVER reads their own boards. Between the BLISTERING TWIN comments, folks have asked for YEARS MORE NIGHTS OF WT!! Have him feature Robin Miller one night to talk OW. With the merger and all the good things and challenges that goes with it, THIS WOULD BE A GREAT TIME to jump on that boat.

SPEED is trash tv these days. Aside from the weekends when they overdose on NASCAR (EXTENDED overly long RACE DAY, Speed Reports, VL) I have no use for this channel.

They continue to miss the boat and grab at young fickle "MTV" fans.

SHAME. Most EVERYBODY enjoyed the Humpy show in different message boards but SPEED does not listen to the fans.

Man, that station continues to go downhill. I keep wondering what some trashy show "the Low Life" is going to be because imo it is aimed at low lifes.

But the fact they gave up on racing is a shame. Two wheel Tuesdays used to make some motorcross fans happy.

Imagine if they talked and hype OW racing!!! For people that find F1 too much a follow the leader show, the potential for talking about Open When is so there if somebody had some sense to see the bigger picture. :(

I agree that Monday should be a NASCAR night. If you re-air Victory Lane right before TWIN then all of a sudden TWIN might make a little more sense. One show which recaps the race with analysis & interviews straight from the people who raced it. Then follow that up with TWIN which starts to look ahead to next week & suddenly that show will "fit".

But anyways, I think SPEED is starting to read the writing on the wall of a stand-alone NASCAR Network. It may still be 5-10 years down the road, but all big sports leagues look at the NFL as a model. And look what they've built in the NFL Network. Now there's NBA TV, the NHL Network, & the Big Ten Network. The NASCAR Network is only a matter of time. And when it happens it could quite possibly carry most if not ALL of SPEED's current NASCAR coverage leaving SPEED in a programming pinch. Whether you like these SPEED reality shows or not(which for the record I can't stand), they're here to stay because its what gets viewers. I'd love to watch the Australian V8 Supercar Series on weeknights, but for whatever reason they don't get ratings for actual "racing" content not sanctioned by NASCAR. Notice SPEED doesn't even broadcast the Touring Series anymore becuase people weren't watching en masse. So when the inevitable happens and the NASCAR Network is formed, SPEED will need something to keep the network afloat & that just might mean Pinks & Wrecked.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.Maybe they should use those big wreckers to haul off this crappy programming and make space for things that go fast.

Remember it's SPEED.

Pinks, Unique Whips, and that stuff could easily be replaced with tech, behind the scene shows.

How about going after USAC midget and sprint races. If the stars of tomorrow are coming from these series it would be nice to see where they begin their careers.These are the grass roots things that don't cost an arm and a leg, and can be produced by local companies and ran on the channel.

There are a lot of neat things that can add to the content of a racing channel.

"The Fox-owned cable network is betting “Wrecked” will do for it what “Deadliest Catch” does for Discovery."

Interesting goal, considering SPEED's non-NASCAR reality programming often aims at the lowest common denominator. Deadliest Catch (and Ice Road Truckers on History Channel) have acquired not only their network's highest ratings, but a relatively affluent and educated, mostly male viewership. SPEED's going to have to have made a lot of advances in this show, quality wise, to manage that for their network.

Not to mention Discovery Channel and History Channel are often on basic cable, where SPEED appears to usually be on expanded basic or digital cable.

Too bad the Humpy show isn't a go, and also the owner of GEM mentioned long ago already having created and cast a reality series about stock car development drivers. Wonder what happened to that or if it's still in the works.

Forgot to add in my previous post that the NASCAR reality shows that are doing relatively well are the syndicated shows aimed at women. NASCAR Angels is in its second season, and ironically given the SPEED news above, a new show was announced yesterday:

"Family Circle magazine and Nascar are cooking up a new syndicated reality TV show for fall. Nascar: Serving It Up, a cooking competition among aspiring chefs, will feature Family Circle recipes at Nascar events in 40 half-hour TV episodes beginning September 2008."

The point about making better shows, or expanding current shows is valid. It seems that aside from the weekends, most of the racing shows have been designed for MTV types, who may not even know the channel exists. If there was a serious attempt at covering other kinds of racing during the week, and perhaps giving us a midweek version of WT and SPEED Report, there is a good chance something might work. As much as I dislike it, it appears PINKS has somewhat of a following, but beyond that I haven't seen anything else catch. Most of it has been mind rotting drivel.

OK JD, now is the time for you to put your consulting business to work!

JD- I am a racing fan and I am interested in cars. My problem with SPEED is that most of its non-racing shows are not really that interesting and do seem to just be clones of what is on other networks. Also, I watched 1 episode of Unique Whips and was turned off by watching paint dry - too little action packed into too much time.

Not being a TV industry person, it would seem to me that some nightly show like RPM TONIGHT - a nightly show on news of various racing series, such as F1, IRL, NHRA, etc.- might hook racing fans to stick around for non-racing programming. Of course, a return of a nightly WIND TUNNEL would be even better.

I did find THE HUMPY SHOW fascinating & hope SPEED will do more of them.

I like racing. I don't give a crap about quasi-automotive lifestyle shows. I detest PINKs and that NOPI softporn.

I hadn't really realized it but JD is right about Speed turning into a weekend-only network for me. I never even think of checking what's on Speed weekday evenings because I just assume it will be a schedule filled with nonsense shows.

So where does the real racing coverage go when Speed goes out of business because it tried to become the poor cousin to the Discovery Channel?

SPEED I have an idea that your racing fans would love!! Okay you ready for it??

Thursday Night Thunder..

I know, I know ESPN did that already but live open wheel racing is such a blast to watch. Tow trucks are boring, How bout the summer Shootout Series live like it used to be. Get some live weekly racing on and you will be surprised how much they would tune you in during the week..

They are kidding right. This is ridiculous, I actually like Deadliest Catch but that is because it is so far from my own reality, tow trucks; not so much. I agree with the poster who wanted to see what goes on inside a race shop (I would love it) but who in their right mind would want camera in the shop 24/7. I personally think the volume of reality TV is so high that people will stop watching them all together. It's a shame that this is what Speed came up with but who knows maybe there are people out there that will love this show, look at Pinks I can't stand it but obviously someone watches it because it is on all the time.

Is there anything, contractually speaking, that doesn't allow Speed from showing all sorts of "racing" shows? Why not show more dirt track racing from all around the country? Why not show more Arca races, open wheel shows, late model races and the like?

I cannot believe that Speed is stooping to such stupidity thinking that anyone is going to watch a show about tow truck drivers. This is about as bad as that stupid Unique, or as one poster smartly put it, the near porn of Nopi. Speed, you're not MTV, just remember that. You need to concentrate on being a channel for racing and not reality shows---keep those on Fox. You have hundreds of choices for race-related shows, but here you go, thinking up some stupid series that no one, other than tow truck drivers, will care about.

The guests Tony Stewart gets on radio are amazing. Guess who was on there Monday, 24 hours after Tony ripped Goodyear.

Mike Helton! He said he didn't agree with Tony (and tony didn't agree with Mike), but they were very civil. He was scheduled to be on there before Tony had goodyear issues and they talked about all kinds of things other than the tires, like how he grew up going to Bristol and all that.

Jeff Hammond was on there too. Pretty much everybody in NASCAR calls in at some point during the season, some more often than others, along with a few entertainment people that Tony likes, singers and actors. And he takes listener calls. Fun and funny show.

(When Mike Helton specified he was already scheduled to be on the show and it wasn't because of the tires, he said his schdedule didn't have room to call in every time Tony was in trouble!)

Mike Helton has a great sense of humor, and that was usually on display during his annual visit to Inside NEXTEL Cup racing.

Helton worked his way up the ladder in this sport from the bottom, and has a very thorough grasp of "how things really work."

I would encourage him to get out and put a new face on NASCAR this season since Mr. France is not usually trackside. Fans would come to know that Helton is just like them, and represents a lot of the best parts of the sport.

Well, I'm a woman but I didn't make it through more than four or five episodes of NASCAR Angels.

Strange show. Extreme Home Makeover sad storyline applied to fixing up a car for someone who needed car repairs along with having them attend a race as a reward. The "lend a hand" part was aimed at women, but they spent a lot of time in the shop showing the specific car repairs, which honestly bored most of my female friends and which makes it think it would have been a better fit for SPEED, if anywhere.

NASCAR drivers who were advertised to be involved each week showed up on camera for a minute or less. The main female host whose name escapes me starred in most of the broadcast, and Rusty Wallace showed up from time to time. It wasn't good.

I like cooking shows so I'll try the NASCAR cooking show.

I think small race shops would let someone in to film if they alternated race shops from week to week. NBS 24/7 managed it for a couple years. Have camera crews in a shop maybe every three weeks instead of every week. The short track/ARCA shop on tv idea is great.

tow trucks? TOW trucks, for heaven's sake!?! ok, speed, i am so finished with your channel. i'll (of course) watch the racing that is broadcast but i'm over it with this move. most of what passes for automotive programming on speed is endless episodes of pinks, nopi, unique whips, then that 'game show' and now TOW TRUCKS? nah.

as a race fan, i want to see races -- current and historic. i want to learn about the cars and trucks, i want to see how it comes together. i could care less about the rest of this dreck but i was ok as long as it didn't get outta hand.

Everyone brought up some great points about Speed's weekday/night broadcasts. They do indeed suck. Only thing we occasionally watch is the monster trucks because my 3 year old son likes them.

But please Speed, get a grip and show what your name implies. Show Australian V8 supercars, Cascar (OK Nascar Canada now),bring back Thursday night thunder like someone mentioned,show classic races from the past, anything other than these lame boring shows you current show now.

Wrecked huh? Only thing wrecked on Speed right now is the weeknight programming.

There are so many forms of racing available that fans would love to see it's incredible that we don't get to see any of it on a channel that claims to be all about Speed.

Heck revamp Back in the Day and have it be an hour or two and show much more of the racing then that show currently does.

Ummmm....Is it April 1?? John, PLEASE tell me this is a freakin' joke. Please. This is probably one of the most pathetic ideas I've heard in a long time. And the fact that it's taking up programming time on SPEED (yes, Speed, not TowHD) makes me sick. I can't see the entire 12 hours of Sebring, but we get this crap? What kind of joke is this channel becoming?

"Since the drivers may be on call 24 hours a day during stormy weather, beer and liquor probably won’t be a part of the show. But the crew drinks a lot of coffee and eats a lot of doughnuts, Mr. Ecker said."

Wow....not THAT is some compelling programming!!!

Seriously, how do I get a job in TV, John? It clearly isn't hard and you don't need a brain. That's quite obvious given the genius ideas the suits at Speed are now coming up with. To think this could, in any way, shape or form, come CLOSE to Deadliest Catch is laughable at best.

whats wrong with the lawn tractor races, the bus races, usac,sprint car, arca, dirt track races. Most of the time I turn on my speed channel it has paid programming on, now thats a real audience grabber, the total work out gym. I am with the other posters, I pay extra for speed channel and I expect shows that have to do with racing, not paid programming, or pinks, BORING, SPEED wake up and smell the fumming race fans, you want your viewership to pick up then cater to the racing fans. I agree there are enough reality shows on to gag anybody.

an additional suggestion? get the production team moving on additional episodes of the humpy wheeler show! these guys aren't going to be with us forever and getting them on tape, just talking and reminiscing about racing is, quite literally, priceless. i don't even care if you can't partner a driver from an earlier generation with one from this generation. just get more shows. one of the ONLY good features of the endless daytona pre-shows was hearing from the older generation drivers! funny, interesting, educational, historic.

hey speed? you want me to pay attention? give me programming that RESPECTS me as a fan and adds to my enjoyment of the sport! give me history, give me "lower-tier" races, give me world of outlaws and midgets and three quarters and sprints, give me sebring and f-1 and irl as well as the 3 divisions of nascar. THEN i'll be committed to turning to channel 36 and spending time there.

JD- Isn't there something somewhat inconsistent about saying that weeknight racing programming "didn't work" - but not making any effort to try to find some new twist on racing programming that might work?

I agree with the comments posted that I rarely watch Speed during the week and this show certainly won't bring me to it. The one show I've been waiting for since the great RPM2nite went dark is a nightly racing news show. Not another NASCAR show but a general motorsports news program. I can get all the NASCAR news I want, whether I need it or not. But I also watch most other forms of motorsport. We've had winter testing for Formula 1 with their season starting this weekend. The Champ Car/Indy Car merger, and all the subsequent news that comes with it. The Daytona 200 this past weekend and the disqualification of the winner and the sanction being taken over by a France family lead group, etc. My point is that's plenty of news for one half hour daily show and I didn't even mention any NASCAR news from this week. Come on Speed, get with the program! Pun intended.

Its hard for me to watch what racing SPEED does show when it is on during the middle of the day or at 3:00 am. If I'm awake and speed has dirt racing on I will be watching it. Nopi tunervision, I don't think so . Pinks not really my cup of tea. Show me some late models or modifieds I think that some of the larger USMTS shows would be great TV viewing as well.

this show will be crap just like all their weeknight shows. We need more worldwide racing, more junior races and shows about the history of the sport. They wrecked the only weeknight show that I could stomach watching. Bring back Allen Bestwick and the original Nascar stooges Johny, kenny and Mikey with the occasional bit of Kenny Wallace.

Wreckers? You must be joking. What in the world does that have to do with SPEED? That's what people want on SPEED, race coverage be it Nascar, lawn mowers, some little local short track, bar stools even, but not some ridiculous attempt to shove some Non-racing reality show at us.I don't like Passtime--it's nothing but a lame gameshow. Give us racing, any series anywhere. I'd love to see more coverage af ARCA, Craftsman Truck Series, or any short track. Those guys are where tomarrows racers are coming from. Make it real..show how tight the budgets are for these struggling series. They need all the help they can get & that's REALITY. I'd rather see that than some overpaid Sprint driver showing off his latest $60,000 car, sitting outside his 4 million dollar house on Lake Norman. Put the $$$ & exposure when fans are interested, & it will give exposure to racers...not some wrecker company. No wonder ratings are slipping.

So, folks, how do we all like the 500 channel universe now? When the era began to dawn, it seemed like it would be a dream come true. There would be a channel all about weather, a channel all about history, a channel all about arts, a channel all about science, a channel all about music, a channel all about racing...

Just last night, the Weather Channel left it's live coverage of the tornadic storms ravaging Georgia, Louisiana, and Arkansas to show a rerun of When Weather Changed the World.

The History Channel? I almost defy anyone to hit that station and not see them playing Modern Marvels which has got to be the cheapest excuse for programming in existence.

Arts & Entertainment? Please. This long ago became a glorified version of the USA Network.

The Science Channel? Hardly much scientific on that station, especially now that their latest most popular show should be sued by the old SCTV gang for ripping off Big Jim McBob (Joe Flaherty) and Billy Sol Hurok (John Candy).

Music Television? When is the last time the flagship of the MTV networks showed a music video at any time other than 3:30 AM?

SpeedVision/Speed Channel?

Do we see a pattern here?

This blog along with a few other racing-related forums have been truly remarkable in how much they have been able to influence major television outlets (mainly ESPN). But, on this count, I think this is truly a lost cause.

Cable/satellite was supposed to bring us a cornucopia of niche channels. Sadly, with almost all of the major channels now held my the big media conglomerates, those in charge (including stockholders) don't have the onions to try to serve any audience other than the oh so coveted 18-35 year old male demographic. Even PBS has occasionally stooped to this level.

I don't like this type of programming, so I don't watch it. But, those who run these channels don't care because I'm now seven years beyond the age of those they want to attract. What's worse is, when that fickle age group turns its back on such a channel's offerings, they won't go back to trying to bring back that core fan audience. Instead, they will bring in more explosions, phony characters, silicone-enhanced tramps, and so on.

Is "The NASCAR Channel" the answer? I honestly have to wonder. Considering everything they have done in Daytona Beach to take more money over keeping various traditions, I don't know if I can expect them to not turn such a station into the same mess we now see on Speed.

Or, here's the short version of this post...

TV sucks when racin' ain't on, so read more books. ;-)

And, for those who missed my SCTV reference above, I'll close with something that might jog some memories...